Woodwind - Solo and Piano - Quartet - Emmons, Stephen - York, Barbara - Shipped (printed) - Flute - 4

with Piano

This piece was written for Dr. Catherine (Kate) Bergman from Emporia State University KS.  The biggest problem I had in writing this piece was that Kate is so NICE that there seemed to be almost nothing to write about! So I decided to write a piece about being “nice” and what it is like to be really “nice”, especially for a flute player, the flute being such a “nice” instrument in the first place.

The first two movements, “A Cheerful Heart” and “Kindness” are, I think, fairly obvious, but I decided to do something different in the third movement and allow Kate (and our player) to have a little temper tantrum and lose her prevalent composure. In the third movement we hear the teacher instructing patiently and persistently yet growing, over time, increasingly impatient and frustrated. By the end she has lost much of her “niceness” and stamping her foot and has a minor fit of temper, still a large step for someone who started out where she did at the beginning of the piece.

I always enjoy, even in my most serious or traditional music, having a little sense of humor lest we all take ourselves too seriously.

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For Flute and Piano, the second movement of this "Sonata", Adagio, was written first and in large part contains the essential thematic material found in the other two movements. It is in ternary form and features beautiful, pastoral, innocent melodies in the flute. For the most part, the piano accompaniment consists of gently undulating major and minor chords that reinforce the modal and tonal centers of the movement. The first movement, Introduction, was composed last. It features melodic and rhythmic figures introduced in a fragmentary and sometimes dissonant way, inviting the listener into a somewhat stark musical landscape. The third movement, Rondo, is a brisk seven part rondo that recalls motives and themes from the first two movements. It features four statements of the rondo theme and three digressions interspersed between these statements. The highly rhythmic piano accompaniment creates a rhythmic bed over which athletic flute lines are woven. Learn More